Fly British Airways Club World on short haul – or fly Titan

As spotted by Simple Flying, British Airways is bringing its long haul Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft to selected European flights this Spring.

This is not the first time this has happened – during covid, BA operated a number of widebody flights to European destinations for cargo reasons, including to Athens.

British Airways has historically operated a widebody flight (usually a 777) to Madrid for cargo reasons, although this appears to no longer be the case. Iberia continues to operate its once-daily A350 service to London which makes it the best way to travel between the two cities.

This time around the destinations and service are a bit more select, with the majority of widebody flights going to Frankfurt. However, a couple of services are also running to more tourist-focused cities – Berlin and Dublin. Simple Flying dug up the following dates:

Frankfurt

• February 18, 25
• March 4, 6, 7, 11, 16, 23, 24
• April 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12 (x2), 14, 17, 18, 19, 21, 24, 25, 26, 28

Berlin

• March 4, 25

Dublin

• March 5, 7

If you are booked on one of the widebody services you’ll either get BA’s new Club Suite on the 777s, or the older yin-yang seat on the 787s.

Whilst Club Suite is the better product, the old seat is still a massive upgrade on the Club Europe seat you’d otherwise get on an A320.

…. or you might end up on Titan Airways

It’s not all good news for short haul flyers.

British Airways appears to be facing a shortage of aircraft and/or pilots and/or cabin crew for its short haul operation, which is why the 777 is being used on certain routes.

This doesn’t seem to be enough extra capacity. In addition, British Airways has leased various aircraft from Titan Airways, complete with crew.

Titan aircraft will be operating selected services to Athens, Barcelona, Geneva, Lisbon, Manchester, Marrakech, Nice, Rome, Vienna, Warsaw and Zurich from Heathrow. The swaps will run from 16th February to 12th March.

If you wish, you will be allowed to change your flight by +/- 2 days to another British Airways flight which is operated by BA itself. No refunds are allowed.

That said, Titan Airways and its crew have a decent reputation so I wouldn’t rush to swap. Here is Rob’s review of a Titan Airways flight.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.